20 Coolest Movie World Records

Most Public Appearances Made By A Film Star In 12 Hours

Think Tom Cruise can press the flesh? He's not the best…

The greatest number of public appearances by a film star at different cities in 12 hours promoting the same film is seven, by Abhishek Bachchan (India), who walked the red carpet, signed autographs and introduced the film Delhi 6 (India, 2009) at cinemas in Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Mumbai, in India, on 22 February 2009.

Now that's dedication. Hope he slept well afterwards…

Largest Simultaneous Premiere

Disney's plans for A Christmas Carol's November three screen premiere sound good, but it's still well behind the record-holder.

The largest simultaneous film premiere in terms of screen viewings was the people's premiere of The Age Of Stupid which premiered at 62 screens around the United Kingdom, at 6:00 pm, on 15 March 2009.

Oldest Cinema Still In Operation

Your local fleapit might seem ancient, but the oldest cinema still in operation today is the Korsør Biograf Teater in Korsør, Denmark, which has been in operation from 7 August 1908.

The Cinema actually opened at the Hotel Korsoer on 30 Jan 1907 but moved to its current location at 17 Jens Baggesens Gade in the summer of 1908 with the opening week beginning on 7 August.

Longest Time Running In A Film

Nope, it's not Marathon Man or Run Lola Run. The record for the longest time spent running in a film by one character is 1 hr 14 min 10 sec, set by Giulio Base (Italy) playing himself during the film Cartoline da Roma, shot in Rome, Italy, on 23 September 2007.

Sore feet? You betcha.

Most Prolific Stuntman

Since beginning his stunt career in 1968, Britain's Roy Alon has been credited for working on 937 TV, film and theatre productions as either a stunt co-ordinator, performer or 2nd Unit Director as of 10 May 2005.

Of this total, he has worked on 13 theatre productions, 37 commercials, 148 feature films (including all four Superman movies, most of the Bond series and more recently Troy and 739 TV shows, including soaps, dramas and mini-series such as EastEnders, A Touch Of Frost and Band Of Brothers.

Youngest Film Director

While America's Emily Hagins came close by making a zombie movie at the tender age of 12, she's bested by Kishan Shrikanth (born 6 January 1996), who directed C/o Footpath (India, 2006), about an orphaned boy who wants to go to school, when he was nine years old.

Nine. Bet he's a precocious little git. We're just jealous.

Most Extras In A Film

It is believed that over 300,000 extras appeared in the funeral scene of Gandhi (1982), the epic directed by Richard Attenborough.

Announcements by loudspeaker van, in newspapers and on television and radio summoned over 200,000 volunteer extras to Delhi's ceremonial mall, the Rajpath, where they were supplemented by another 94,560 contracted performers, the majority of whom were paid a fee equivalent to 40p each.

The sequence had to be shot in a single morning, that of 31 January 1981, the 33rd anniversary of Gandhi's funeral.

Eleven camera crews shot 20,000ft of film, more than the total footage of the 188 minute released film. The edited funeral sequence ran for only 125 seconds of screen time. That's Sir Dickie for you...

Longest Screen Kiss

The longest screen kiss in a commercial feature movie occupied three minutes, five seconds. of Regis Toomey's and Jane Wyman's time in You're in the Army Now (1941).

Medic! We need chap stick! Stat!

Most Oscars Won By One Film

Come on, you know this one…

Three films have won 11 Oscars. The first to achieve the record was Ben-Hur (1959) which won from 12 nominations on 4 April 1960, followed by Titanic (1997) from 14 nominations on 23 March 1998 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) which won all 11 of its nominations on 29 February 2004.

Which technically means Peter Jackson's the best. How do we figure this? We just do, all right?

Earliest Use Of Special Effects

The silent, minute-long Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895), shot at the Edison Laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey, USA, was the first piece of film footage to use stop-action, giving the impression of a beheading.

So compelling was the scene that some viewers at the time believed an actress had given her life to film it! People will believe anything, won't they? What do you mean Gollum's not real? Of course he's real!

Freelance Journalist

James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON's in-cinema magazine.